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Posts tagged ‘casual dining’

Since the day my sister showed me their over the top milkshakes, I have wanted to try this place out. I’m not one to go into a restaurant just to try one thing on the menu; all aspects have to appeal to me in some sense. As per usual, I perused the menu before hand, pegging a few items of interest that I would want to try. I liked that even though they had many experimental and over the top items, there were still some classics on the menu.

We arrived just as the restaurant opened, but it was clear that they had been open earlier than the posted hours of operation. Clearly, this was a very popular place, as we would find out later, this place fills up quickly. Our first order of business was to commandeer a table for our party of four. Despite having chosen a few stand out dishes and milkshakes, I was still overwhelmed by all the choices I had. It ended up being that Val was stuck between choosing the Eureka Burger or the Space Case Burger, both of which I had expressed a desire to try, so we each got one of them and split them in half. Brae went with a more traditionalist approach, or so we thought till the burger came. We thought that Cheeseworld was going to be a cheese bun. No, the “buns” turned out to be full sized grilled cheese sandwiches sandwiching a succulent patty. The last of our party, my cousin, Yulin, ordered the vintage deluxe, another traditional choice. We also ordered an onion ring for the table.

Of the two burgers, the Eureka Burger was more ordinary, but that did not make it any less tasty. The Space Case Burger was from their list of experimental burgers. The Eureka burger, like almost all their burgers consisted of a 6 oz Alberta grassfed beef patty, but this one had been butter spiked. It was then topped off with smoked gouda, thick cut bacon, brioche breaded onion rings, butter lettuce, and tomato relish. Unfortunately, I couldn’t discern all the elements that were listed, in particular the tomato relish, which I could possibly have mistaken as ketchup. The onion ring in the burger was the same as the ones we ordered as side for the table. Both were greasy and after one or two became very heavy and difficult to finish. When the onion rings first came, we thought that it may have been honey drizzled over the rings, but as it turned out, they were pools of oil which detracted from it appetizability. The Space Case Burger was a crab cake patty with space tortilla chip, coleslaw cabbage, citrus aioli, pineapple salsa, and arugula. Unlike the menu, the burger didn’t come topped with a mighty pineapple star. I definitely wasn’t disappointed by this burger. Sure it was hard to eat because of how easily the crab crumbled and it looked funny with the tortilla UFO-esque protrusion, but taste wise it was one of the better burgers. The coleslaw, aioli, and salsa helped to balance out the burger, ensuring that it didn’t feel too greasy or heavy. Both the Vintage Deluxe and Cheeseworld came with cheeky sauce. Besides the interesting name, it was pretty tasty. For those wondering what cheeky sauce is, the easiest description I can give is a garlic aioli and who doesn’t love garlic?

Between the four of us, we only ended up getting one milkshake. And it’s a good thing we shared. Milkshakes have a tendency to be incredibly sweet and this one was. Of all their shakes, we decided to order the Cookie Monster which consisted of a chocolate (I think) shake topped with Oreo cookies and a glazed doughnut. This was definitely more about the experience than the taste. The taste was fine, normal, nothing special. I wouldn’t order it again, but I’m glad that I can at least say I’ve tried it.

Overall, this place is a nice gathering place for a casual outing with friends. This place is always busy with people trying out these new and extreme “concoctions.” I would definitely recommend trying this place out, especially if you are adventurous with your food (or with anything really). I’m not sure I would come back as often as I go to somewhere like Vendome, but I would come back. Based on my experience here, I would give this place a 3.25/5.

After a mixed feeling kind of day, we finally got to try out Nick’s. Brae had been planning on bringing me here when we just first started dating. Tonight we finally got that chance. The restaurant wasn’t dead, but it wasn’t super busy either, but it was a Tuesday, so I didn’t expect it to be too busy anyways.

We were promptly seated in what I assumed to be the bar/lounge area and given just enough time to peruse the menu. I had already looked at the menu before, but still didn’t exactly know what I wanted. I know Brae wanted me to try the pizza since that was once of the things they were known for, but wanted to try their steaks, which is the other thing they specialize in (I mean, duh, look at their name). After looking at the prices, I decided I’d stick to a pizza this time and come back another time to try some other items on their menu because a lot of it sounded really good. Me being me wanted to order an appetizer and guess what, we ordered the calamari. As most of you will know by now, this is my go to appetizer.

Like the kind of day I had been having, I had a mixed opinion about the calamari. Having had so many varieties of calamari, I’d have to say that the batter could have been lighter. At first, it isn’t so bad, but after about half or more of it, it starts to feel very greasy and heavy. There are two solutions for that: sharing that with more people or make a lighter batter. However, the tzatziki is one of the best I’ve ever had. It’s not the kind that has an overbearing amount of garlic, but just the right amount for me (I do love my garlic, but I know that sometimes the quantity that I like is often too much). The pizzas followed shortly after we finished the calamari.

Brae got his favourite: Hawaiian and I tried the Sweet Chili Chicken. I was torn between the Sweet Chili Chicken and Chicken Carbonara, but Brae helped me choose. I think that was a great choice because it satisfied all the tastes one craves for and chicken carbonara has the potential to be very heavy and rich. The first thing that struck me was the stringy mozzarella cheese. Mozzarella is one of my favourite cheeses simply because of how well it melts and the slightly chewy texture it has after it’s been melted. The pizza was simply blanketed in cheese. Now, some may say that that is too much cheese, but for me, there’s no such thing. In fact, when our waitress offered us some parmesan, I jumped at the chance to have more melty cheese on my pizza. While it was annoying that the pizza toppings kept slipping off the pizza while it was hot, it tasted so much better that way. The crust itself tasted almost buttery. It’s one of the better pizzas I’ve had, but the thickness of the crust and the doughiness are somewhat off-putting.

This is one of Brae’s favourite restaurants and I can see why. I like this restaurant, it’s good for a casual night out and I would agree to come back here, especially since I would love to try some of the other items on their menu, but would I say this is the kind of restaurant I would choose if given a choice? No. Restaurants like this aren’t usually in my wheelhouse, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy them when I do go. It’s homey and the servers are friendly enough. Besides, it’s one of Brae’s favourites so I can definitely see myself coming back here in the future for sure. I would rate this place 3.75/5.